The Taoiseach has led tributes to Cork journalist and broadcaster Barra\u00ed Mescall, who has died at the age of 74.<\/p>\n
Mr Mescall passed away on Friday in the Mercy University Hospital surrounded by his loved ones.<\/p>\n
A graduate of UCC, Mr Mescall was one of the first to be recruited to the fledgeling RT\u00c9 Radio Cork in 1974, and he stayed there until 1996, when he moved to RT\u00c9\u2019s new Irish station, which was initially called Teilif\u00eds na Gaeilge, or TnaG, before it was renamed TG4 in 1999.<\/p>\n
He stayed with TG4 until his retirement in 2017.<\/p>\n
A native of Blarney, Mr Mescall is survived by his partner Jo Cronin, who described him simply as \u201cloving and kind\u201d.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said Mr Mescall had been an institution in journalism, particularly in Cork.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarra\u00ed covered many national stories as well, he was an outstanding Gaeilgeoir, very interested in traditional music, and a journalist of the old school who always revelled in getting the scoop and getting the exclusive,\u201d Mr Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very saddened to see his passing, a decent man, a very sound person, and to Jo and to all his family, we extend our deepest sympathy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will be a loss to his journalistic colleagues and to the world of journalism in Cork in particular.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Similarly, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said he had been saddened to hear of Mr Mescall\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarra\u00ed was a dedicated voice in Irish journalism and broadcasting in Cork and nationally,\u201d Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis contribution to radio and public service broadcasting will be fondly remembered as will his tireless advocacy for the Irish language and culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy condolences to his family, friends and all who knew him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAr dheis D\u00e9 go raibh a anam.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jerry Buttimer, Fine Gael TD for Cork South Central and minister of state, said he was mourning a friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cBh\u00ed an-bhr\u00f3n orm sc\u00e9al bh\u00e1is Barra\u00ed Mescal a chlos. Bh\u00ed s\u00e9 de phribhl\u00e9id agam a bheith ag obair leis ar an raid\u00ed\u00f3 \u00e1iti\u00fail. B\u2019fhear \u00e9 a raibh gr\u00e1 doimhin aige d\u00e1r gcult\u00far is d\u00e1r n-oidhreacht,\u201d d\u00fairt s\u00e9.<\/p>\n
\u201cFear thar a bheith suimi\u00fail ab ea \u00e9 agus ba mhinic d\u00f3 m\u00e9 f\u00e9in a ghr\u00edosadh lena spreagadh.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeaba sh\u00edora\u00ed i measc na n-Aingeal go raibh ag an nGael uasal seo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very sad to hear of the sad passing of Barra\u00ed Mescall,\u201d Mr Buttimer added as B\u00e9arla.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the pleasure of working with him on local radio and he was a man who cherished our language music and culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was always encouraging and interesting. He was a voice of our childhood on cork local radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay he rest in peace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Mescall served as a volunteer and a committee member with the Cork Folk Festival, and the festival\u2019s chairman, Jim Walsh, said he had known Mr Mescall since college.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarra\u00ed was a great friend who made a huge contribution to the Irish language down through the years, and I will miss meeting him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Mescall is survived by his partner Jo, his siblings Finola, Margot and Hugh, his nieces, nephews and extended family, Lilibeth Horne and family, and Dan and Aideen Cronin and family. He was predeceased by his parents John and Esther, and his sister Clare.<\/p>\n
Mr Mescall\u2019s requiem Mass will be held at 11am tomorrow, Tuesday, April 28, in the Church of the Most Precious Blood, Clogheen, with his funeral taking place privately afterwards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Taoiseach has led tributes to Cork journalist and broadcaster Barra\u00ed Mescall, who has died at the age…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-420601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}